Web analytics refers to the analysis of data created by website usage. For instance, web analytics can be used to mine visitor traffic data. A variety of visitor traffic data is measured such as what browser is being used, what links on a given web page were selected, whether a product was purchase, etc. A number of web analytics tools are presently available, such as Site Catalyst version 11 from Omniture of Orem, Utah. These tools are able to capture data on website usage, and responsive to a user's request display a variety of different metrics on website usage such fallout/conversion, A/B testing, and the like.
In an on-line environment, website usage and other customer behavior may be tracked by a website server, or by another server such as a data collection server (also known as a data collector), which may be remotely located. The data collection server is notified of activity on a website so that it can monitor and track the activity. One method of achieving this notification is through the use of a request for embedded content.
Embedded content is part of a web page, such as an image, that is requested as a separate file from the file containing the web page. The separate file may be requested from the website server or from a remote server, such as a remote content server or data collection server. For example, when a user requests a web page from a website server, the website server sends the web page file to the user's client. The client, such as a web browser, then attempts to render the file as a viewable web page. However, upon rendering the web page file, the client may find a reference to a separate file located on the website server or a remote server. After the content is located and sent to the client, the client renders the separate file containing the embedded content along with the original web page.
A web beacon (also known as a web bug) is a particular type of embedded content where the content itself is irrelevant, but the request for content carries useful information. For example, a web beacon is often a transparent image having very small dimensions, such as 1 pixel by 1 pixel. This image is small enough to be invisible to the user. When a client is rendering a web page that includes a web beacon, the web beacon causes the client to send a resource request to a server such as a data collection server. The web beacon may include a script (or other code) that causes the client to include, in the resource request, additional information about the user and the user's environment. The additional information can include the data from a cookie, or other information about the client's operating environment or status. Where the server indicated by the web beacon code is a data collection server, the data collection server may, in response to the request, cause the client to set an additional cookie for identification for tracking purposes. In this manner, the web beacon request can be used to indicate to a data collection server that a particular web page is being rendered.
One method for including the request is to write the request as a static image tag in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The following is an example of an image tag in HTML:
<img src=“http://example.com/tracker.exe?AID=14658&PID=259294&banner=0.gif” width=1 height=1 border=0>
Here, the term “ad.datacollectionserver.com” refers to the address of the data collection server.
Another common method of including the request is to use a scripting language such as JavaScript so as to cause the browser to dynamically generate a request to the data collection server. One advantage of using a script instead of a static image tag is that the script can cause the browser to perform other functions including gathering additional data and sending it along with the request. In either case, the result is a request sent to the data collection server upon the occurrence of an event, such as the loading and rendering of a web page.
Once the request has been sent to the data collection server, the data collection server can perform various types of tracking functions. For example, the data collection server can count the number of requests associated with a web page so as to monitor traffic on the web page. By counting the number of times the web beacon element has been requested from the data collection server, the server can determine the number of times a particular page was viewed. By using JavaScript to dynamically construct the request for the web beacon and encode additional information, other identifying information can be obtained for further analysis.
Other types of website usage tracking are also well known, such as for example log file analysis. In such an approach, statistical analysis is performed on server logs in order to detect and analyze website traffic and usage patterns.
One mechanism for presenting website usage and traffic data, as described in related U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/794,809, for “Associating Website Clicks with Links on a Web Page,” filed Mar. 3, 2004, is to superimpose color-coded indications on a representation of a web page (or other online resource). Different colors can be used to represent different levels of activity for the various portions of the web page. For example, on-screen links that experience heavy traffic can be overlaid with one color, while links that experience less traffic can be overlaid with another color. A legend can be provided for explanatory purposes with respect to each of the colors.
For example, referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown an example of a page analysis report 201, displayed alongside an image of the web page 102 being analyzed. In one embodiment, report 201 is provided to a site administrator or owner interacting with data collection server 106.
In the example of FIG. 2, report 201 includes identification 202 of the website and web page being analyzed; report date 203; report options and settings 204; page metrics 205; and links 206 to related reports. In addition, variable levels and shades of color density are superimposed on the displayed view of web page 102, in order to visually represent the relative number of clicks each item 208 or screen region has received. Color key 207 is a legend to indicate the meaning of various superimposed colors.
It is desirable to generate web usage overlays to areas of a web page that are occupied by or rendered by web plug-ins, including plug-ins provided by a third party, so as to provide a graphical display of user behavior with respect to content provided by such plug-ins. For example, it may be desirable to display a color-coded overlay showing user interactions with various elements of an interactive Flash movie, Java applet, or the like. In order to display an overlay having visual characteristics that align with the underlying elements (for example, to color-code various user interface elements), it is necessary to ascertain the dimensions of each of the underlying elements.
What is needed, therefore, is a technique for determining the dimensions of elements within plug-in content, even when such content was provided by a third party. What is further needed is a technique for generating a web usage overlay for such plug-in content.